Study from UTAS provides insight into future of krill populations

The study from the University of Tasmania and Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science outlined a new ocean modelling tool called KRILLPODYM, which shed light on the mysterious lives of the tiny crustaceans.

Lead author of the study David Green said despite krill being so important, there was not enough knowledge on their distribution, abundance and habitat requirements.

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"And as the climate continues to warm, understanding how krill respond to environmental change is critical," Dr Green said.

"Krill is one of the better sampled zooplankton species within the Southern Ocean, but we still have a lot to learn about where they live and what conditions they need to successfully complete their life cycle."

Krill play an important role in the ocean's carbon cycle. At the surface, they feed on algae, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

They then migrate in swarms to deeper water, where they excrete "fast sinking poo." The process transfers around 39 million tonnes of carbon per year to the ocean's depths.

Dr Green said scientists had been trying to build models to estimate krill's distribution and their specific habitat requirements for decades.

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"So we created KRILLPODYM, which is a population model based on the characteristics of the underlying environment," Dr Green said.

"It uses environmental inputs from ocean circulation models to simulate the distribution, biomass and spatial dynamics of Antarctic krill.

"And it also gives us the scope to explore how climate change will affect krill and the ecosystems that rely on them."

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Dr Green said current krill data was particularly sparse outside the south-west Atlantic, where a krill fishery operates - but KRILLPODYM had the capacity to deliver a better understanding of other regions, including the krill ecosystems of east Antarctica, within the Australian Antarctic territory.

"As we continue to develop and improve our model, we hope to provide additional guidance for the sustainable management of our fisheries and oceans," Dr Green said.

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